Cameron plans a second snap electionPosted by Jamie at 9 23 PM on Saturday, January 30

TORY leader David Cameron is planning to call a snap SECOND poll if he only manages a narrow victory in this year’s General Election.

He fears he will be a lame duck PM if he just scrapes a win in the vote expected on May 6 — and will call a second election within months.

Our ICM poll last week showed that Cameron could have a majority of just 38 after May — meaning it would take just 20 Tory rebels to defeat the new government or hold the new PM to ransom.

And series of polls over the past 48 hours have shown the Tories’ lead in the polls has DROPPED slightly — surveys for BPIX and YouGov gave them a NINE POINT lead.

The figures have not changed much since December, but they do indicate Cameron may only have a slim majority.

So aides are secretly drawing up plans to ask the country to vote again in the hope he would win big at the second time of asking.

Cameron also plans an emergency Budget within weeks of the first election, slashing business TAXES in a bid to restart the economy.

He is banking on the tax-cutting bonanza as well as action to secure JOBS and crack down on IMMIGRATION to convince voters to give him a stronger mandate.

A bigger majority would give him the platform to take the tough measures needed to shore up the economy. The strategy is based on what Labour PM Harold Wilson did in 1974. That February’s election resulted in a minority Labour government so Wilson called another poll in October and strengthened his hand by winning a tiny majority.

It would be a risky move for Cameron — he could be turfed out of office by voters fed up with being asked to vote again.

But he plans to change the voting system beforehand to make a big Tory win more likely. He wants to redraw constituency boundaries which, at the moment, unfairly favour Labour.

He will use his plan to cut the number of MPs to force the review and ensure he gets a big win. A Tory source said: "We are looking at holding a second election if we only win a small majority first time round. It would be called in a matter of months. It all depends how difficult things are and how small our majority is in the first vote."

And Cameron could find himself up against Gordon Brown again. Labour sources say he will not give up the leadership even after an election defeat.

A source said: "He genuinely believes he is the best man to be in charge of the Labour Party.

"That is why he has stood so firm in the face of the attempts to get rid of him so far.

"And there are real signs he won’t even go, even if we lose. He still feels he is the best man for the job. It is incredible."

We can also reveal hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ cash is being ploughed into Labour heartlands just months before the election.

A staggering 96 per cent of money from a special government fund to fight the recession has been spent in Labour seats.